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A stray bullet fired from more than a
mile away likely killed an Amish teenager in northeastern Ohio on Thursday night, investigators
said yesterday.

Rachel Yoder, 15, of Fredericksburg in Wayne County, was shot in the head. She was driving a
buggy on her way home from a Christmas party at the produce farm where she worked when the bullet
hit her in Holmes County.

Her brother saw the horse-drawn buggy circling in the driveway of the family home and found his
sister, who apparently had fallen out, nearby. She was flown to Summa Akron City Hospital, where
she died.

Wayne County sheriff’s Capt. Douglas Hunter said his department traced a trail of blood along
the road for about three-eighths of a mile, into Holmes County in an area of farms and rolling
hills.

Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly said yesterday that investigators think the bullet might
have come from an Amish man who discharged his muzzle-loading rifle into the air while cleaning it
after a day of hunting.

“It’s very strange, and it’s a shame that this happened,” Zimmerly said. “But again, someone
shooting a firearm, you need to make sure you’re shooting it in a safe direction and you know where
that bullet is coming down.”

Zimmerly said the shooting appears to be accidental and declined to release the man’s name. He
said it will be up to the county prosecutor’s office to decide whether to file charges.

“We have no reason to believe that there was anything intentional as far as the shooting,” he
said.

Zimmerly said calls and tips poured into his office in the days after the girl’s death. The
father of the man who fired the gun called the sheriff to say that his son had discharged his rifle
but wasn’t sure if the bullet had hit someone.

“They’re a very honest family and upfront,” Zimmerly said. “He wanted us to be aware they did
shoot a gun.”

It appears the bullet came from the same gun. Zimmerly said the sheriff’s office is working with
agents from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation to confirm the origin of the bullet.

Yoder was born in nearby Mount Eaton and attended the Old Order Amish Church,
The Daily Record newspaper of Wooster reported. She is survived by her father, 10 brothers
and sisters and two grandparents.